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Chapter 9
Plot In The Happiest Refugee, Chapter 9 there are some key events occurring through the chapter some of them i am going to list and I will also list the reasons why they would be important. the first event that occurs in the chapter is that Suzie and anh spend a lot of time together. Anh falls in love with Suzie and desires to be with her as Suzie is very much like anh. Suzie does not see anh that way but they are really good friends. Suzie also defends anh when his friends accuse of him being gay which proved that Suzie didn’t completely hate anh. Second event that occurs which is important is anh and his friends went to open mc night and this is a crucial as anh gets the first opportunity for him to become a comedian. he got offered to a place to a king cross night. this event is very important event in Anh’s life as it changed anh’s career. Third event that occurred in the chapter was anh got recruited at Andersen consulting. Anh got approved in the interview which took over three days to conduct. This is very important as this job would pay anh well for this which meant that his family would have a better lifestyle. Fourth event that occurred was in about a year after Anh started comedy he won the comedian the year award this was a major event in his life as winning the award meant that this gave a boost in his career of comic and people would believe that he is a good comedian. The forth event that occurred dint he chapter was that Anh won the green face competition which was very important as the winning prize was ‘five thousand big ones’. the price was very big which meant after a long time Anh’s sister tram was going to get her smile back because with the prize money tram could get braces. Sixth event that occurred in the chapter was anh buys a house which is double storey, four bedrooms, three bathrooms a big house. It was very important for Anh has got the loan with a few hurdles and made Hein very happy that when she entered the house all she could say was ‘beautiful, beautiful and beautiful’. The last event that occurred was that anh proposed Suzie on a beach and explanation she said ‘yes’. This was one of the biggest events in Anh his life as it was like a wish come true for him and he always wanted to be with her. As Suzie was the perfect one for Anh. Theme '''Risky schtufff''' Risk is the potential to gain or lose something of value through chance situations and uncertain means, it is something that is encountered everyday in our lives, therefore it is important that we know how to deal with it. Anh takes many risks in Chapter 9 to get his job as a comedian by giving up his job at Andersen Consulting to get a different job as a comedian which would still support his family and keep Anh content, although Anh takes this risk, he deals with it by knowing that he would still have a future at Andersen Consulting if his pursuit of comedy is successful or not. Not all pathways in life are certain and it is the risks we take that lead us to where we are and where we belong, some risks can be life changing while others can be almost insignificant but they all make some kind of impact on our lives. "This is frightening, but it's the right thing to do." Do recounts his memory when Anh is thinking about whether he should take the risky decision to switch careers from being a business man to being an amateur comedian. '''Perseverance''' Perseverance is the characteristic of being persistent in one's goals whether in the face of danger or when encountering difficulties along the way. Throughout Chapter 9 Anh is determined to make his dreams work out the way he wants in his personal life with Suzie and his professional life with his job as a comedian. The world is not known to being a nice place, because of that everyone has at some point in their life needed to persevere and stay resilient to brace themselves for the problems which confront them or will confront them in the future. "I had a lot of motivation and a mother's blessing", "I worked like I was possessed." Do chooses to persevere and realise his goal of becoming a professional comedian in a year and he reflects this through what he writes about in this chapter. '''Hope''' Hope is an attitude of thinking related to the expectation of positive events happening after a certain action has or will be taken. Anh is filled with hope to accomplish his dreams and get together with Suzie in Chapter 9, if Anh had no hope he simply would have just went with the flow and would have been stuck with a job he didn't like and never would have asked Suzie to be his wife, hope drives him to strive for his goals and continue persevering. Everyone on Earth needs hope in order to overcome risky or difficult situations no matter how impossible the chances are, hope is what keeps us humans going, it gives us our determination and goals to complete. Anh's mother noticeably shows the most hope through the entire memoir, this is especially true when she encourages Anh to go for a job which she would most likely never heard of "All right, if you think you can do it, go for it." Do even writes about this in the next few sentences "I love my mum. She's so damn optimistic and has so much faith in her children that sometimes I wonder whether we deserve it." Character '''Anh:''' Anh in this chapter continues his uni days all the way through to his comedian life after wedding. He is trying to discover himself as he goes through uni finds that law bores him and instead enjoys uses his very creative personality. He thus rejects his offer to become a lawyer in order to become a comedian. He remembers his father’s ideals to guide him through his choice, suggesting that he still respects his father as a man. He is ambitious towards what he loves and works hard endlessly to learn and enjoy his new career. Throughout this phase, he suddenly feels grateful towards his parents, understanding their pain and hardships to bring them here. He is very romantic and protective towards his family and that is demonstrated by his strong intent to protect his mother and siblings from his once violent father. He starts understanding himself better and what’s around him, having found the link between his personality and his father. During this time, you find that he has lots of characteristics from his father as he is a resilient, proud, stubborn and loves animals. He likes working alone, also a similar trait from his father. '''Suzanne/Suzie:''' Suzie is Anh’s wife that he met in uni and was said to have an incredible smile has always been supportive of all his little phases of discovering himself, though was a bit slow in returning his feelings towards her. Anh describes her as a polite, fun girl and he loves being around her, thus tries to be as romantic as he could be. Her open – minded personality helps bring her close to Anh’s Vietnamese family as she is willing to understand and embrace his culture. She played a fairly important part as Anh’s wife. '''Steve:''' Though he is a fairly minor role, he was one of the people who triggered Anh’s ambition as a comedian, telling Anh that he was funnier than the person on stage that night. He ultimately gave Anh a curious eye towards stand – up comedy. He is also one of Anh’s best mates who is nice enough to not let Anh freeze at night but make fun of him after that. '''Tam:''' Tam is a very important obstacle in Anh’s life as he was Anh’s hero; a great father and husband, then a violent father he wouldn’t accept, to once again a great father. Anh found himself using his father’s quotes and adapting to his father’s character as he grew up and this was outlined every time he would go to meet him. Tam’s philosophy influences Anh’s life decisions and he was and always seems to be willing to be supportive of Anh. He seems to regret all his actions during his drunken fit and bad decisions and seems to blame all the misfortune that had happened in his family at himself. But he is a brave man, prideful and amiable, who loves his family through and through. Anh believes in this and thus has accepted his father back in his life. '''Hien:''' Hien was and always very supportive of her children. She believed in all her children and was always very optimistic. She is willing to work so hard just so her family could live a better life. She is motivation for Anh when he starts his comedian career, wanting himself to gain money fast so he could payback his mother’s hard work with hard earned cash and luxury. Her philosophy also highly influenced Anh as he learnt to be compassionate and kind. He learnt to not take things for granted by watching his mother help those less fortunate. She was a wonderful and happy, romantic wife for her husband until he became depressed. She would be so very proud of her children, having so much pride in them. Anh soon understands that he becomes a mix of both his mother and father, together creating his basic character. '''Dave Grant:''' Dave Grant was Anh’s mentor and friend, always supportive and giving him valuable information. He was very charming and fun, supportive and possibly a very important friend to Anh. '''Tram:''' Tram had a small role, but Anh considered her as motivation too, just so she could gain some self confidence. She is Anh’s important little sister who he wants to protect. '''Khoa:''' He had grown up and he had lost lots of weight and he has resentment built up for his dad. He has become a very compassionate person too. He was mentioned very little in this chapter. Key Quote In chapter nine Anh says that, ''“I worked like I was possessed… I took gigs for free, for $50, $20, a slab of beer, a cheeseburger – anything really.” ''This quote shows just how determined Anh was that this was the right career change for him. It also shows that he was willing to give up the lucrative career that was being offered to him by a law firm for stand-up comedy. In another part of the chapter Anh says, ''“Most kids would be worried about announcing to their single mom: ’Mum, after five years of university and a big job offer that will guarantee money and for many years to come, I’m going to chuck it all in for a shot at being a stand-up comedian’”. ''In this quote Anh uses a sarcastic tone to show the audience just how unrealistic his goal sounds, and also how much he is willing to give up chasing his goal of being a stand-up comedian. Anh also shows the audience just how lofty his vision is of making it from another person’s perspective, just how ridiculous it is to give up a job that ''“paid well enough for us to live a much better life.” ''It also shows the courage that it took to make a life-changing decision as momentous as the decision to become a comedian. So the idea related to being an outsider that is expressed in Chapter Nine of Anh Do’s book, ''“The Happiest Refugee”, ''is giving up everything to chase your dream. Analysis Questions